Lifestyle may or may not mirror cognitive style, contingent upon the effect of situational environmental influences operating. Implicit in the foregoing definitional distinctions is the realization that while cognitive style and lifestyle perhaps operate in imperfect symmetry, the domains of psychographic and lifestyle research are logically symmetrical and complementary (Dorny 1971; Loudon and Della Bitta 1979, p. 98). Clearly, this is but another perspective on the potential definition and operationalization of the lifestyle concept. As lifestyle analysis entered its adolescent phase of development in the marketing literature at the dawn of the 1970s, Dorny (1971) sought to distinguish psychographics from lifestyle research by: reserving the term "psychographics" for measures that are truly "mental" -- attitudes, beliefs, opinions, personality traits, etc. Koponen, Arthur (1960), "Personality Characteristics of Purchasers," Journal of Advertising Research, vol. Stephen A. Greyser, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 140-149. Lifestyle is an integrated system of attitudes, values, opinions and interests as well as overt behavior (p 497). EVOLUTION OF THE LIFESTYLE CONCEPT IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Bell (1958), Rainwater, Coleman and Handel (1959), and Havinhurst and Feigenbaum (1959) inaugurated the lifestyle concept in the consumer behavior literature at the close of the 1950s, pointing to its potential significance in understanding, explaining and predicting consumer behavior and, hence, its importance as a focus for marketing strategy. Market segments are definable in terms of individuals whose expected reactions are similar to similar marketing strategy (Kotler 1980, pp. In the restricted range, in respect to individuals, characteristic perceptual styles, also known as cognitive styles, and response styles, as well as complex response styles have been discerned (Emphasis added, 1967, p. 203). Accordingly either psychographic or lifestyle research may focus upon individuals, groups, or society as the unit of analysis depending upon the researcher's purposes. Lifestyle research is reminiscent of the parable of the elephant and the blind men of Hindustan. Contemporary interpretations in the marketing literature generally define lifestyle to encompass both characteristic patterns of overt behavior and cognitive processes and properties (cognitive style), including such dimensions of personality as values, attitudes, opinions. Linda L. Golden, University of Texas at Austin, NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11 | 1984, Linda Hagen, University of Southern California, USA, Marta Pizzetti, Universit della Svizzera Italiana Writing at the same time, Levy (1963) proposed a contrasting concept of lifestyle, one reminiscent of Adler's conviction that a fictionalized goal or theme pervades one's life providing structure to both self-concept and behavior. Havighurst, Robert J. and K. Feigenbaum (1959), "Leisure and Life Style," American Sociologist, 64, 396-404. J. S. Wright and J. L. Goldstucker. Professor Joe psychographic segmentation purpose of psychographics is to add attitude and behavior to demographics syndicated service vals offers marketers view Psychographics allow you to uncover the content topics that are likely to resonate with your customers. Highlight the brand's values. Psychographics also give brands the opportunity to highlight their values and align them with the customer's. This can help companies accomplish their branding goals. Deutscher (1966, p. 135) succinctly summarized the implication: "Disparities between thought and action are the central methodological problem of the social sciences." New York: Oxford University Press. ", Journal of Marketing, vol. 1, 21 (September), 6-12. Ferber, Robert and L. C. Lee (1974), "The Role of Life Style in Studying Family Behavior," Faculty Working Paper no. New York: Oxford University Press. Charles W. King and Douglas J. Tigert, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 189-195. EXHIBIT 1 LIFESTYLE AND PSYCHOGRAPHICS Compounding the conceptual confusion confounding lifestyle research is a semantic maze eclipsing the terms lifestyle and psychographics that remains unraveled. However, such an assumption flies in the face of the growing body of research examining their interaction. Certificate of Completion from The University of Texas at Austin. The most telling observation from Exhibit 1, however, is the paucity of published lifestyle literature addressing the three criteria qualifying the usefulness of any social science construct: (1) definitional consensus, (2) operational clarity, and (3) theoretical context. J. Arndt, New York: Allyn and Bacon, 85-100. Wells, William D. (19751 ), "Psychographics: A Critical Review," Journal of Marketing Research, 12(May), 196-213. Markin, Rom J. Jr. (1974), Consumer Behavior: A Cognitive Orientation, New York: MacMillan. The criteria that form these groups are psychographic profiles. Such profiles are effective primarily because they allow marketers to focus on specific values and preferences. To acquire enough data to form psychographic profiles, marketers typically use the following two methods: Felson (1975) perhaps best captured the critical, if not terminal, conceptual and operational condition of lifestyle. Engel, James F., Martin R. Warshaw, and Thomas C. Kinnear (1979), Promotional Strategy, Homewood, IL: Irwin. The persistent conceptual and operational imprecision of the lifestyle construct has not only handicapped lifestyle research, but has undermined its usefulness as a segmentation variable. Weber's focus, like Veblen's, was upon collective lifestyles originated and perpetuated by status groups (Weber 1946, p. 187, 191, 300; Weber 1947, p. 429); however, lifestyle played only a minor role in Weber's writings. Because this area of research focuses on interests, attitudes, and opinions, psychographic factors are also called IAO variables. Talarzyk, W. Wayne (1972), "A Reply to the Response to Bass, Talarzyk, Sheth," Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 125-337. Contemporary interpretations in the marketing literature generally define lifestyle to encompass both characteristic patterns of overt behavior and cognitive processes and properties (cognitive style), including such dimensions of personality as values, attitudes, opinions. A logical and consistent implication of the above definition of lifestyle is that the domain of psychographic research by delimited in terms of cognitive style (cognitive processes or properties, including values, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, interests), that may be systematically linked to characteristic patterns of overt behavior. Defining Lifestyle in terms of characteristic patterns of overt behavior also suggests an intuitive symmetry between the domains of lifestyle and of psychographic research paralleling Dorny's dichotomy (Dorny 1971, pp. Festinger, Leon (1964), "Behavioral Support for Opinion Change," Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 8, #1 (March), 3-17. Intervening situational variables may cause lifestyle and cognitive style to be symmetrically or asymmetrically related. Wilson, Clark C. (1966), "Homemaker Living Patterns and Marketplace Behavior - A Psychometric Approach," in New Ideas for Successful Marketing, eds. The origins of the lifestyle concept are obscure, but its roots are traceable to the works of poets, naturalists, and philosophers writing as early as the sixteenth century (Ansbacher 1976, p. 196). Wells, William D. (1974), "Life Style and Psychographics: Definitions, Uses and Problems," in Life Style and Psycho- graphics, ed. Live mentorship with experts. The population density in Austin is 2404% higher than Texas. Becoming an Association for Consumer Research member is simple. Variously called "lifestyle", "psychographic", or "activity and attitude" research, this blend combines the objectivity of the personality inventory with the rich, consumer-oriented, descriptive detail of the qualitative motivation research investigation (p. 196). Festinger, Leon (1964), "Behavioral Support for Opinion Change," Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. Lifestyle is all things to all people, but this very fact that has made the concept appealing also impedes the development of further precision. Mills, C. Wright (1953), "Introduction," The Theory of the Leisure Class, New York: New American Library, vi-xix. They came together because "life style" seemed to be such an appropriate shorthand expression for what the activity, interest and opinion research was attempting to portray. Perhaps the most noteworthy observation is the preponderance of references purporting to be lifestyle research which provide no explicit definition of lifestyle at all. Wells provides this historical perspective in his exhaustive "Psychographics: A Critical Review" (1975b): Starting with the classic study of Koponen (1960), investigators have repeatedly tried to correlate consumer behavior with scores obtained from standardized personality inventories. Berkman, Harold W. and Christopher C. Gilson (1978), Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Strategies, Encino, CA:Dickenson Publishing Co. Bernay, Elayn K. (1971), "Life Style Analysis as a Basis for Media Selection," in Attitude Research Reaches New Heights, eds. This is admittedly narrow as defining lifestyle as overt behavior does not allow for the broad, psychological Adlerian perspective of lifestyle. 204-206) discerns three "important common properties" of lifestyle: Unifying aspect: Lifestyle connotes internal consistency and unity, irrespective of specific percepts or responses (1967, p. 204). By defining lifestyle as overt behavior, lifestyle emerges as the characteristic behavioral consequence of the ongoing reconciliation of individual motivations and cognitive style with environmental constraints and opportunities, within the limits of enabling condition operating over time. Berkman, Harold W. and Christopher C. Gilson (1978), Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Strategies, Encino, CA:Dickenson Publishing Co. Bernay, Elayn K. (1971), "Life Style Analysis as a Basis for Media Selection," in Attitude Research Reaches New Heights, eds. Weber, Max (1946), Weber Essays in Sociology, eds. Hence, today, although ill-defined in the minds of most market analysts, lifestyle has come to be operationalized almost exclusively in terms of AIO by default. 194-196). The resolution and reconciliation of these two problems built into conventional definitions and operationalization of lifestyle lies in sequential segmentation: Segmenting first on the basis of consistencies in overt behavior, the on the basis of congruence in cognitive style. LaPiere's (1934) classic study of racial prejudice in 1934 inaugurated a series of investigations and reviews reporting negative relationships between attitudes and behavior (Festinger 1966). beliefs and interests. Two problems emerge: On one hand, the conventional interpretation of lifestyle leads to an unnecessarily narrow definition of market segment boundaries and, hence, to underestimates of market potential. Indeed, the search for such systematic links has been much of the motivation behind the intensifying interest in lifestyle and psychographic research in the past two decades. Three consumers, two lifestyle segments: Are these three consumers meaningfully different from a marketing or consumer behavior point of view? A persistent thread through the marketing literature is the notion that lifestyle involves characteristic patterns of behavior (Andreasen 1967; Bernay 1971; Lazer 1963; Moore 1963; Myers and Gutman 1974). Exhibit 1 provides a comprehensive review of definitions, operationalizations, and theoretical anchorages of lifestyle appearing in the marketing literature, along with the major proponents of each. SEQUENTIAL SEGMENTATION: LIFESTYLE AND COGNITIVE STYLE. Lifestyle has been used in reference to: "an individual," "a group, where the members bear a psychological relationship to each other, and which has stability over time," and "a [generic] class or category, where the members have only the property in common on the basis of which they are classified" (Ansbacher 1976, p. 200). Analysts who have preferred the term "lifestyle", on the other hand, have tended to focus either on broad cultural trends or on needs and values thought to be closely associated with consumer behavior (p. 319). Exhibit 1 provides a comprehensive review of definitions, operationalizations, and theoretical anchorages of lifestyle appearing in the marketing literature, along with the major proponents of each. Wells, William D. (1975,), "Comment on the Meaning of LifeStyle," in Advances in Consumer Research, ed. In Austin 7.56% of the population is Black. Deutscher, I. One final note: It would be erroneous to construe a plea for simplicity in the interpretation of lifestyle as an indictment of the legitimacy of psychographic research. Defining and operationalizing lifestyle to encompass both overt behavior and cognitive style needlessly confounds the task of lifestyle segmentation. about 90 percent of the amount in the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX Metro Area: $86,530. Much lifestyle research could better be termed "idiosyncracy research", since it uses the computer to group people with similar idiosyncracies (p. 37). While (perhaps inadvertently restricting the term lifestyle to "the totality of behavior," Ansbacher concludes that "the broad range of life style includes cognitive style and response style" (Emphasis added, 1967, p. 203). Veblen, Thorstein (1899), The Theory of the Leisure Class, New York: MacMillan. Beverlee B. Anderson, Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research. Instead, to paraphrase from Talarzyk (1972, p. 465), "If you laid all of the people doing [lifestyle] research end-to-end, they would: (a) never reach a conclusion and (b) all point different directions." As lifestyle analysis entered its adolescent phase of development in the marketing literature at the dawn of the 1970s, Dorny (1971) sought to distinguish psychographics from lifestyle research by: reserving the term "psychographics" for measures that are truly "mental" -- attitudes, beliefs, opinions, personality traits, etc. There is a serious internal inconsistency in this definition, and others like it, which in turn implies major operational inconsistencies. Markin, Rom J. Jr. (1974), Consumer Behavior: A Cognitive Orientation, New York: MacMillan. (1966), "Words and Needs: Social Science and Social Policy," Social Problems, vol. Yes and no. Udel, Jon G. (1965), "Can Attitude Measurement Predict Consumer Behavior? 33-38. Yet, as Wells (1975c) concedes: The activity, interest and opinion research, and the term "life style", developed separately. W. Thomas Anderson, Jr., University of Texas at Austin. Thus, the lifestyle concept has varied widely in content and in range in the social sciences, according to the unit of analysis or the analyst (Ansbacher 1976, p. 203). Wells, William D. (19751 ), "Psychographics: A Critical Review," Journal of Marketing Research, 12(May), 196-213. Reed Moyer, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 55-62. WebThis study analyzes Texans attitudes and behavior toward littering and the slogan Dont mess with Texas.. The term "psychographics" [refers to] studies that place comparatively heavy emphasis on generalized personality traits. #3(Winter), 235-256. The paper (1) documents the internal inconsistency of contemporary definitions and operationalizations of lifestyle, (2) suggests an alternative definition, (3) provides a logical distinction between lifestyle and cognitive style, and (4) stresses the logical distinction between lifestyle and psychographic research. austin texas psychographics. Lair, J. K. (1965), "Splitsville: A Split-Half Study of Television Commercial Pretesting," Dissertation Abstracts, 27, 9894-2895. William D. Wells, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 317-363. W. Thomas Anderson, Jr., University of Texas at Austin Two problems emerge: On one hand, the conventional interpretation of lifestyle leads to an unnecessarily narrow definition of market segment boundaries and, hence, to underestimates of market potential. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Cognitive style is customarily defined as "one's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and perceiving" (Markin 1974, pp. Hawkins, Del J., Kenneth A. Coney, and Roger J. In an unfashionable depiction of the ostentatious style of life (or "scheme of life," in Veblen's words) of the American noveau riche of the latter half of the nineteenth century, Veblen established a fashion of thinking about social, economic, and consumer behavior that has persisted (Mills 1953). Rather, Adler's interpretation is relegated to the realm of psychographics or cognitive style. Bell, Wendell (1958), "Social Choice, Life Style, and Suburban Residence," in the The Suburban CommunitY, ed. Yet, as Wells (1975c) concedes: The activity, interest and opinion research, and the term "life style", developed separately. In his historical review of the lifestyle concept in the social science literature Ansbacher (1967) noted that the lifestyle concept has been applied in three different uses at three levels of aggregation. Clarification and differentiation of conceptual and operational definitions is appropriate to revive lifestyle and refine its usefulness as a segmentation tool. Fencrich, J. M. (1967), "A Study of the Association Among Verbal Attitudes, Commitment, and Overt Behavior in Different Experimental Conditions," Social Forces, vol. P. 130). No approach is sacrosanct, yet some distinction in terms would allow for more productive advancement in lifestyle research and, equally importantly, in lifestyle segmentation. Wilson, Clark C. (1966), "Homemaker Living Patterns and Marketplace Behavior - A Psychometric Approach," in New Ideas for Successful Marketing, eds. Psychographics: Analysis of consumer lifestyles to create a detailed customer profile. William M. Dobriner, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 225-242. The median age in Austin is 5% lower than Texas. Still, the terms psychographics and lifestyle remain largely undefined and indistinguishable in the marketing literature. 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